BOWLING GREEN — Ohio (8-6, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) lost 82-63 to Bowling Green (10-5, 1-0) on Tuesday night inside the Stroh Center.
How it happened:
After the opening minutes of the second half produced a back and forth effort, the Falcons began to separate from the Bobcats, despite leading scorer Demajeo Wiggins scoring zero points.
With a 55-52 lead, the Falcons got three straight 3-pointers, which made it a 12-point game. Antwon Lillard buried two of them to start the run. From there, Ohio couldn’t recover.
The Bobcats tried to chip away at the lead, but they couldn’t stop the Falcons enough, and 12 was the smallest lead the Falcons held in the final minutes.
Although Lillard hit the shots to widen Bowling Green’s gap, Justin Turner and Mike Laster created headaches for the Bobcats, scoring 20 and 15 points, respectively.
The first half was built largely on runs, but ultimately was tied at 30 at the break. The Bobcats started the game on a 13-4 run, and they maintained their lead until the 7:30 mark of the half, when Bowling Green’s Michael Laster nailed a 3 to put the Falcons on top.
The lead change was part of a 16-2 Bowling Green run, which lasted nearly eight minutes.
Ohio seemed to be in trouble heading into halftime, but Carter led the charge to bail out the Bobcats. He hit two 3s, and Ohio ended the half on a 9-0 run.
Who stood out?
Jason Carter — He’s been Ohio’s best player in nearly every game this season, and he kept Ohio in the game in the first half. His 14 first-half points were largely from four 3-pointers.
But not every 3 he took fell in the second half, and he couldn’t play all 40 minutes. His 22 points were a team-high for the Bobcats, and the offense ran through Carter. Ohio goes as Carter goes.
Big picture
The Bobcats are now 0-2 in MAC play after ending nonconference play at 8-4. In their last loss, the Bobcats blew a first half lead and fell in overtime to Northern Illinois, in large part due to poor free throw shooting. But the loss to Bowling Green is all too familiar for Ohio. The Bobcats are 1-5 away from The Convo this season.
To snap a two-game losing streak, Ohio will have to beat Ball State on the road Saturday.
